Part One of the Prong Settings Cab Style

This is the style we will be using today, the style can be made for a pendant or a ring pin really anything. This setting is using a cabochon of any size or shape , I will be using 14 ga sterling silver wire. I chose this larger gauge of wire because the pendant I am making is quite large and I wanted the size of wire to compliment the size of the finished piece which is a consideration I think of importance. Thats my opion not a definite thing you have to do , do your own thing make it cool with your own art attitude on it. Anyhow this is the stone set we will be using for the pendant set. These are my own cabochons I cut and cabbed.

This set is huge of course I love big jewelry  and just for info one of my bestfriends in the world is probaly 5 ft tall  and she wears huge jewelry and it doesn't look odd on her at all so go big . As I said sterling silver wire , now I use a jewelry to saw it with and file it down so the cut ends are nice and smooth, and I use plastic coated pliers that I actully got a Michaels a hundred years ago this is the pic of what type of pliers you will want to  use so long as they are plastic coated they should be alright.

Now you will want to anneal your wire first because this is a sorta heavy gauge to be working with, just anneal it like you would any silver just till it becomes dull not red hot. Take your first stone measure around it , you will want the wire to be just a teeny little bit inside the diameter of the stone.

Measure and cut the piece of wire. Now onto the second piece of wire shaping

and cuttings . Now you are ready to solder . On each piece make sure the wire ends butt up against each other with no gaps showing if you can see light through the gap , go file them up nice and straight and check them again. Go ahead and do both pieces like this. Now place both pieces on the soldering block and apply flux and solder with hard solder.

This is the time where you must bow down to the solder gods to let it flow and melt or fry your wire. Just kidding but I always do a little solder dance afterwards that is really important to do. Now get out your clean up gadgets and get started making all smooth with no bumps this is a good time to straighten up any wommpies on your wire using the coated pliers, you can look at old jewelry zines, reference books look at online jewelry artists to see where the placements of prong should be used, this however is just for interest because your piece is your original piece , your cab may be irregular in shape , a fossil, anything so you will have to figure out what will work for you and your design , this is also a good time to figure out if it's a pendant like mine how to attach a bail , what kind of bail to use . For our next part if you can get a charcoal block or a soft fire brick , you can order them from Jff in Atlanta I will be happy to give you their number 770-455-1871 They are a jewelry supplier and just mention that you want a soft soldering brick and they will know what you want, they are very inexpensive and I love them for this technique.

I hope you have enjoyed part one of the technique of prong settings part two is being created as we speak so its coming up soon, If you should have question please email me Nancy4133@gmail .com. I do not pretend to be an instructor just a girlie who shares what she learns with others hopefully this will help you I hope you enjoy .